mouse-house
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Rumor: Entire Faxion Online team laid off
Although the Faxion Online team has weathered layoffs before, today it looks as though none have survived a recent culling. According to a forum post citing a former UTV employee, it's rumored that the entire team has been given their pink slips. "It is now officially dead," the unnamed source wrote. "They laid off the rest of the Faxion team, so there is no one left to do anything." Disney recently bought out UTV Ignition, which oversees Faxion Online, and there was some speculation that the Mouse House might be making cuts in this struggling PvP MMO and elsewhere. So far this is an unconfirmed rumor, and it remains to be seen what impact this will have on Faxion going forward if true.
NintendoWare Weekly: Flight Control, Flipper, Ghost Slayer
Today's WiiWare and DSiWare update is brought to you by the letter "F." Four of the seven games released on Nintendo's download services today have titles starting with the letter, including: a new game in the Aksys "Family" series; Flight Control; the indie platformer from goodbyegalaxygames, Flipper; and ... Faceez. In non-alliterative news, the spooky WiiWare sword fighting game Ghost Slayer is now haunting the Wii Shop.
Mouse House squeaks onto WiiWare Feb. 22
Big John Games has announced a new 2D puzzler coming to WiiWare: Mouse House; a single-screen maze game in which an adorably spheroid mouse navigates mazes full of obstacles and other mice in order to feast on delicious cheese. Though the presentation is totally "Flash game," the gameplay reminds us of Adventures of Lolo, Kickle Cubicle and other character-based NES puzzle games. (Not that we're suggesting Mouse House is that caliber of game.) We'll find out soon enough how good it is. Mouse House's release is set for Monday, February 22. %Gallery-85837%
First Look: Mouse House
Mouse House is a very adorable and surprisingly complicated puzzle game from Plaid World Studios. At first look, it seems like a very simple game with graphics that appear to be on par with Super Nintendo games. But, it's actually surprisingly tough and addictive. The game's premise is simple -- eat cheese and progress through the unlocked doors once they open. Along the way, you have to dodge bees, evil rats, crumbling floors and try not to get pinned in a corner by pushing balls the wrong way. It looks simple, but isn't. After completing the 8-level tutorial, it took me a few retries to get through the next few levels. The sound effects are truly what make this game stand out. The little noises from eating cheese and getting through an open door successfully are quite adorable. The controls are easy to use -- tap the screen in a vertical or horizontal line from where the mouse is and he'll move to that spot. There's no game soundtrack other than the sound effects. Instead, you can listen to the music already loaded on your iPhone or iPod Touch and the sound effects will play over the music. However, I enjoy the effects so much I simply play without the music. Mouse House (link opens iTunes) is currently available for US$.99
